Unfair driving style? Verstappen counters critics: "I don't listen to these people"

Tough duels in Interlagos and also for the world championship title: Max Verstappen knows how to do it. The only question is how to do it well.

Max Verstappen answered the probing questions about his driving style about as consistently as he will continue to drive in the heated title fight on the track. "It's my tenth year in Formula 1. I think I know what I'm doing," emphasized the 27-year-old Dutchman ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix in São Paulo and gave his critics a clear message: "I don't listen to these people."

The circuit in Interlagos, which is predestined for drama and spectacle, could not be on the racing calendar at a better time for the tough battle for the world championship title. The atmosphere is heated, the points lead has melted away and Verstappen is the focus of the stewards after his double penalty for his uncompromising course in Mexico City. "You win and you lose. I don't like to lose. I try to maximize the result," emphasizes Verstappen.

Escalation in the title fightThe row over the "dangerous" Max Verstappen comes to a head

"As the title fight gets tougher and tougher, it is quite possible that the stewards will have to make even more tough decisions in Brazil," it says on the race series homepage. Father Jos has already made it clear that Verstappen will not give in for the sake of the race stewards: "He will not change his driving style just because there are a few stewards who don't like him."

Both father and son will also be keeping a very close eye on who the International Automobile Federation appoints to judge offenses this time, after the father orated about a possible conflict of interest in Mexico.

The reason for all this: Verstappen's car is too slow

The Formula 1 season could be heading towards a furious finale. 2021 was the last time it was really toxic. In 2021, Verstappen won the world championship for the first time, race control played the decisive role in the final Grand Prix, and in the weeks leading up to it, things got heated between Verstappen and Red Bull and Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes - on the track between the two drivers, off the track between team officials.

Just like now. Red Bull's team boss Christian Horner recently presented data to prove that Norris would not have made the corner in one of the duels in Mexico City, while McLaren's managing director Zak Brown countered in the direction of Max Verstappen: "It's unnecessary, it endangers everyone and it's not a clean race." Verbal bickering is part of the game, always has been. It's not just the engines that make noise in Formula 1.

Start five places further backVerstappen receives a penalty for new engine

Mercedes team boss: Racing changes after precedent is set

However, it remains to be seen whether one or two drivers, and Verstappen in particular, will now behave differently as a result of the race stewards' most recent rigorous penalty course. Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff believes so: "A driver always goes to the limit and if the rules allow a certain type of racing, a driver like Max will always take advantage of it. But now there is a new interpretation of the rules and I think that will change the way everyone races."

Wolff spoke of a precedent. "From now on, you have to leave space on the outside of the corner when the car is next to you. Braking too late and taking the other car off the track while leaving the track yourself is no longer an option." That's good for racing.

This maneuver of being on the inside and not allowing yourself to be overtaken by more or less subtly pushing the attacker to the outside is part of Verstappen's world champion repertoire. The decisive factor is always whoever is in front at the apex has the right to take the corner. Verstappen then brakes so late that he is usually in front.

Even dad Verstappen admits this: Too much in a corner

But it's not about not overtaking or not being allowed to overtake. It should be about fighting hard but fairly. Even Verstappen's father Jos had to admit that it may have been too much in his son's second move at the Autodrómo Hermanos Rodríguez against Norris. Max Verstappen did not spend much time on public self-reflection. If his car wasn't so slow, he wouldn't have to defend himself so much, he said. He still has 47 points more than Norris. But there are still four Grand Prix with two sprint races to go.

Norris' compatriot Damon Hill, former world champion and current TV pundit, also believes that Verstappen's team is partly to blame. "It almost seems as if Max can do whatever he wants," he said in the Sky Sports podcast. "But it can't be a race of destruction just to keep his place or to deny someone else a place." Verstappen said: "I have my opinion, I don't have to share it." He listens to people who are objective and fair.

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